Today, as I promised, more details about how Russian troops have breached the confederate ringing of the fortress Avdieevka.
They slow appear on the phase of capturing a fewer days ago, it seemed to have been an impotent, fortified Ukrainian position built around the hotel "Carska Ochota", south of the town-fortress of Awdieevka. The key, most fortified node of defence of the Avdeevsky Reinforced District.
The Ukrainian Army has chosen this position and powerfully fortified since 2014. It was from this direction, from the part of the millionth Donetsk that the pro-Russian rebels were expected to attack from the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic and then storm the Russian national Army.
Ukrainian bomb squads and engineering army specialists built here, according to the latest fortification art, a comprehensive reinforced position, with a network of traditionalists, combat shelters, passive shelters and indoor underground passages. All covered with a network of minefields, mine traps, grouts, anti-tank and anti-personnel obstacles.
The artillery of the garrison of the fortress had rehearsed areas of setting up a barrier fire on the fortress section “Carska Ochota”. The crew of the reinforced position was armed with their mortars, anti-tank rocket launchers and grenade launchers, and many device guns. The full covered many drones, including FPV, constantly circulating over the battlefield and attacking even individual Russian soldiers.
Despite the strong fire of Russian artillery, including a dense 203 mm caliber cannon and mortars 240 mm 2S4 "Tulipan" and air bombardment, the Ukrainian crew nearly 2 years successfully resisted any attempts at attack and Russian assaults. Fort position ‘Carska Ochota’ together with the position ‘Former OPL unit’ and the position ‘Czech Republic’ are the main line of defence of the confederate ringing of the Avdievsky Reinforced District.
Under these circumstances, Russian military men reached under the influence of soldiers' advice from Donetsk for engineering documentation of the area from the USSR period. An old, partially flooded and flooded sewer collector of the fi 80 was found there. It was he, the 80 cm diameter pipe, that was to be the way to successfully gain the fortification of “Carska Ochota”.
For respective weeks, utilizing weather conditions, covering the work with artillery fire (huk), manually, bomb-building crews shook the tube and secured it. The sewer was pumped out. Ventilation wells were made. They were waiting for negative temperatures and bad weather to ground Ukrainian drones.
Meteorologists reported that January 17, 2024 would be as aura as expected. At night, about 150 volunteers from the "Veterans" Self-Detached Infantry Battalion from the "Volunteer Corps" came down to the hatch and began in a kneeling position to decision inside the collector pipe.
Russian soldiers made large efforts to decision in the remnants of frozen sewage and complete darkness for 2 kilometers! They moved trying to keep the maximum silence erstwhile outside, Russian artillery consciously set fire to jam and mask the reverberation from the pipe. They crawled and crawled unnoticed, moving into Ukrainian positions.
Every soldier in the uniform and winter equipment carried about 25-30 kg of weapons, ammunition and gutter. After respective hours of murderous crawling, superhuman effort, there were about 150 Russian soldiers at the center of the Ukrainian fortress “Carska Ochota” who began to destruct the amazed Ukrainian crew. The surprise was complete. quite a few disoriented defenders have fallen, any have been taken prisoner.
Using the component of surprise, Russian soldiers spreading panic after a fewer hours went down respective streets of the confederate buildings of Avdieevka. flanking Ukrainian positions in the erstwhile OPL unit, which threatened the lap passed on 22 January to Russian hands.
In the following days, the command of the Avdieevka fortress, erstwhile it became aware of the failure of the position of "Carska Ochota", and this only occurred after almost 24 hours, joined the organization of counterattacks aimed at regaining strategically crucial positions lost. Why so late? The Russians went out and killed the crew or took them prisoner. Speaking the language of Sienkiewicz’s “Trilogy” – “not 1 witness of defeat has escaped”.
The Avdeevsky Division Command threw into a counterattack the detachments in force of about 2 battalions supported by US 2M2 Bradley ODS combat cars. Despite the furious beatings and sacrifices of Ukrainian soldiers, the relentlessly fighting Russians, who received reinforcements, retained their positions.
These meals, which allowed to halt counter-attacking Ukrainian bravados, came through the mined, in large sacrifice by Russian road bombarders, in vast Ukrainian minefields, covering the position of “Car's will”. The weather besides favored the Russians, Ukrainian drone operators had mediocre working conditions.
Thus, in a bravado manner, Russian troops made a breach in the confederate line of fortification of the Avdievsky Reinforced District.
The Russian Avdiejeńska seizure operation, which has been going on for more than 3 months, entered a fresh phase requiring Ukrainians to download further reserves and control to fresh weaker defensive lines inside the Avdiejewka fortress.
Krzysztof Podgórski
photo. izvietia
